16 Bind up the testimony; mseal the teaching1 among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is nhiding his face from the house of Jacob, and oI will hope in him. 18 pBehold, I and the qchildren whom the Lord has given me rare signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, s“Inquire of the tmediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land,2 greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against3 their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but ubehold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
For to Us a Child Is Born
1 4 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt vthe land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.5
2 6 wThe people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
3 xYou have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
4 For the yyoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken zas on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For ato us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon7 his shoulder,
and his name shall be called8
bWonderful Counselor, cMighty God,
Everlasting dFather, Prince of ePeace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
fthere will be no end,
on the gthrone of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with hjustice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
iThe zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression
8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and it will fall on Israel;
9 and all the people will know,
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.”
11 But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and stirs up his enemies.
12 The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west
devour Israel with open mouth.
jFor all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
13 The people did not turn to him who struck them,
nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel khead and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day—
15 the elder and honored man is the head,
and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;
16 for those who lguide this people have been leading them astray,
and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.
17 Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,
and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;
for everyone is godless and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaks folly.9
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
The 144,000 of Israel Sealed
1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the useal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, v“Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God won their foreheads.” 4 And xI heard the number of the sealed, y144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:
5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,
12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,
12,000 from the tribe of Gad,
6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,
7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,
12,000 from the tribe of Levi,
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,
8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
A Great Multitude from Every Nation
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, zfrom every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the aLamb, clothed in bwhite robes, with cpalm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation dbelongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the efour living creatures, and they ffell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, g“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the hgreat tribulation. They have iwashed their robes and made them jwhite in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him kday and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
16 lThey shall mhunger no more, nneither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their oshepherd,
and he will guide them to psprings of living water,
and God will qwipe away every tear from their eyes.”
